{"id":11451,"date":"2019-10-12T12:38:44","date_gmt":"2019-10-12T10:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/159.69.82.204\/win\/?p=11451"},"modified":"2020-12-02T16:50:13","modified_gmt":"2020-12-02T15:50:13","slug":"windows-10-fixes-for-october-2019-start-menu-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/borncity.com\/win\/2019\/10\/12\/windows-10-fixes-for-october-2019-start-menu-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows 10: Fixes for October 2019 (start menu) issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

[German<\/a>]After installing the cumulative updates released on October 8, 2019, some Windows 10 users, especially with version 1903, are facing again issues with a broken start menu, a broken desktop search, and a broken action center. Below I will give a brief analysis and describe some approaches how to repair this.<\/p>\n

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Description of the issue<\/h2>\n

\"\"As of October 8, 2019, Microsoft has released a bunch of cumulative security updates for Windows 10. One of the goals was to fix the printer issues, which occurred with some systems since the updates at the end of September 2019 and October 3, 2019.<\/p>\n

However, shortly after installing these cumulative Windows 10 updates, some users discovered that the Start menu, Desktop Search, and Notification Center no longer works. These bugs had already kept the affected users in suspense at end of August and in early September 2019 (see Windows 10 V1903: Search and Cortana bug in Update KB4512941 confirmed (09\/05\/2019)<\/a>). However, the September 2019 patchday updates actually fixed these bugs.<\/p>\n

I have covered the issues within my blog post Windows 10 October 2019 Patchday (Start menu) issues<\/a>. In the German version of this post blog-reader Janami25 has left a comment<\/a> why suddenly people are affected again. He wrote:<\/p>\n

Windows 10 1903:<\/p>\n

My original guess with the first problem update KB4524147 has been confirmed here [in this blog post]. Once you have installed this first \"problem\" update, you will notice that you have issues with the start menu. And these issues will be back, after newer patches are installed.<\/p>\n

In my opinion, you MUST restore a system backup BEFORE installing KB4524147 for the first time, and then install the very latest patch, only then the issue with the start menu was solved. At least at my saystem.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The blog reader refers to this English MS Answers forum thread<\/a>, where this was also discussed. Within my blog post Windows 10 October 2019 Patchday (Start menu) issues<\/a> I had given hints how to fix this issue. One was to replace the file ActivationStore.dat <\/em>by an old version \u2013 but I had not the time to discuss details. In the meantime, GErman blog readers have thankfully gave me some analysises of the root cause and described some working approaches, which I now summarize here.<\/p>\n

Fix #1: Restore ActivationStore.dat<\/h2>\n

The file ActivationStore.dat<\/em> is used by various Windows apps (also the Windows shell with the start menu, notification center and search was probably created with the Modern UI app methods) to store certain information. This Microsoft article<\/a> deals, for example, with the repair of the Store app, where ActivationStore.dat<\/em> plays a role. The file is a component of the Windows runtime system. For interested readers: James Forshaw has mentioned this in this set of slides<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now German users have noticed that the file ActivationStore.dat<\/em> is not only missing for Cortana. In my German the blog post Windows 10 Oktober 2019-Patchday (Startmen\u00fc-) Probleme<\/a> reader Bolko left some details within this comment<\/a>. The file ActivationStore.dat<\/em> is missing or damaged in four folders of build-in shell apps:<\/p>\n